By Voice & Viewpoint Staff
On Wednesday, April 9th, the San Diego Continuing College of Education (SDCCE) opened a business center on the Cesar Chavez campus located at 1901 Main St, CA 92103. The purpose of this new center is to uplift and provide a space for entrepreneurs, at any stage, to gain access to resources.
Dr. Tami Foy, Executive Director of the San Diego Continuing College of Education Foundation, welcomed everyone to the grand opening and spoke to how the idea started.
“When I first started, Dr. Tina King, President of the SDCCE said, ‘Tami, I want a Business Resource Center’”, said Dr. Foy. “I said, ‘Okay, I think I can make that happen’.”
Dr. Foy then began reaching out to the community, among them, Alex Waters who is Executive Director of The Program Labs, a non-profit organization located in the Jo & Vi Jacob’s Center. Program Labs helps foundations and nonprofits design and implement entrepreneurship and workforce training programs. Waters agreed to assist and lend a helping hand.
“The key thing for this space is for folks to be able to connect with one another to be able to grow and build not only just their businesses but be economically resilient,” shared Waters.
The resources that will be offered are workshops for both new and seasoned business owners, 1-on-1 business coaching focused on the needs of individual business owners, small group sessions designed to connect the business community, and free business needs assessments and referrals to community business resources.
This new Business Resource Center is meant to replace and rebuild the previous business resource center at the Jo & Vi Jacobs Center, as they have donated all of their furniture to the new site at the Cesar Chavez Campus.
Current individuals and students who have benefited from the previous center were in attendance, as were local officials, and interested and eager business owners and entrepreneurs excited to use the new resources. Tours of the new Business Center, located in room 107, were given featured podcast equipment, computers, and free informational resources for technological career training.
Dr. Tina King and Dr. Tami Foy acknowledged the community and the village it took to bring back a resource that was sold to San Ysidro Health last year. Community partners, implementers, and sponsors stood behind as Dr. King cut the Opening Day ribbon, signifying the start to a new chapter of opportunity, innovation, and community connection.
